updated 11:50 am EDT, Tue September 21, 2010

Nokia's Vanjoki says Android no long term solution

Nokia's outgoing mobile executive VP Anssi Vanjoki today said in an interview [sub. required] that Android wasn't a viable option to stem falling market share. He called it a stop-gap solution and likened it to Finnish boys, who "pee in their pants" during the winter to keep warm. While it would solve any short term problems, the end result would be worse, Vanjoki said to the Financial Times.

By using Google's OS, Nokia would have a much tougher time competing as it would have less room to differentiate itself than just using Symbian and later MeeGo. HTC, Motorola and other Android firms have had success lately but have been compelled to add interface layers to try to stand out.

The company's dependence on Symbian has been considered one of its biggest liabilities, as it's only now getting multi-touch, a fast web browser and other features that have been present as far back as 2007 in the iPhone and later for Android. Symbian^3 and MeeGo close the gap considerably and also give Nokia an easier path for the Ovi Store and other components that have been key to its services.

Android is the future for all

I predict Nokia, RIM, Palm and even Apple, all are eventually going to be forced to use Android if they want to stay in business. Android does not limit competition, on the contrary it improves and increases competition which is good for the industry and very good for consumers!

Nokia's core competency is in large volume and small margins, you just have to look at Nokia's yearly number of sold mobile phones divided by its yearly revenues and profits. Where Nokia could profit most would be to bring low end feature phones into the Android ecosystem. They could sell $100 Android phones unlocked, and pre-paid, usable for hundreds of millions of people in developing countries.

Meego is Intel's desperate attempt at putting x86 in smart phones. Is this really all that Nokia can come up with? Some lame excuse for highering costs?

it's all about the apps

Nokia has always built great hardware. But the OS and the apps are c***. that's why I left Nokia for an Android phone soon after the HTC Magic came out. Since then, the importance of good apps has only increased. Apple has the best app ecosystem, followed closely by Android, and everything else is a distant third.